US death row inmate proved innocent after 30 years in prison

Glenn Ford spent three decades on death row before he was freed on Tuesday.

“Credible evidence” shows an African-American man who spent nearly 30 years on death row in a prison in the US state of Louisiana has been innocent.

Glenn Ford had been held on death row since 1985 after an all-white jury convicted him of a 1983 robbery and murder. He was freed on Tuesday following a judge’s order that said “credible evidence” proved his innocence.

“I’ve been locked up almost 30 years for something I didn’t do,” Ford said. “I can’t go back and do anything I should have been doing when I was 35, 38, 40, stuff like that.”

In 1983, police found Isadore Rozeman, a nearly blind jeweler and watchmaker, shot dead behind the counter of his shop in Shreveport, Louisiana.

There were no witnesses to the crime and a murder weapon was never found. However, the all-white jury convicted Ford of the murder and he was sentenced to death by electrocution, which was the state’s method of execution at the time.

Ford maintained his innocence and filed multiple appeals but most of them were rejected.

After nearly three decades, Ford was freed when a motion filed by prosecutors said evidence discovered in late 2013 proved he was innocent.

According to Louisiana’s law, exonerated prisoners can be provided with $25,000 for each year imprisoned, with a cap of $250,000. So, Ford can get a maximum of $250,000 for 30 years of his life spent in prison.